Pests (invertebrates, insects, arachnids, larvae thereof, etc.) are annoying to humans for a myriad of reasons. They have annually cost humans billions of dollars in crop losses and in the expense of keeping them under control. For example, the losses caused by pests in agricultural environments include decreased crop yield, reduced crop quality, and increased harvesting costs.
Over the years, synthetic chemical pesticides have provided an effective means of pest control. For example, one approach teaches the use of complex, organic insecticides, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,376,784 and 4,308,279. Other approaches employ absorbent organic polymers for widespread dehydration of the insects. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,985,251; 4,983,390; 4,818,534; and 4,983,389. Use of inorganic salts as components of pesticides has also been tried, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,423,284 and 4,948,013, European Patent Application No. 462 347, Chemical Abstracts 119(5): 43357q (1993) and Farm Chemicals Handbook, page c102 (1987).
However, it has become increasingly apparent that the widespread use of synthetic chemical pesticides has caused detrimental environmental effects that are harmful to humans and other animals. For instance, the public has become concerned about the amount of residual chemicals that persist in food, ground water and the environment, and that are toxic, carcinogenic or otherwise incompatible to humans, domestic animals and/or fish. Moreover, some target pests have even shown an ability to develop immunity to many commonly used synthetic chemical pesticides. In recent times, regulatory guidelines have encouraged a search for potentially less dangerous pesticidal compositions via stringent restrictions on the use of certain synthetic pesticides. As a result, elimination of effective pesticides from the market has limited economical and effective options for controlling pests. As an alternative, botanical pesticides are of great interest because they are natural pesticides, i.e., toxicants derived from plants that are safe to humans and the environment.
With respect to protecting stored products, including food, from insects, this safety issue is even more important. Some of the major stored food products affected by beetles include, but are not limited to, flour, grain, wheat, barley, corn, pasta, cereal, pet food, and others. Since the pesticides will come in contact with the stored food products to some extent, it is essential that the pesticides be safe for mammals and do not persist for very long, but rather break down very easily. Stored food products have long been subject to infestation by beetles, e.g., red flour beetle, confused beetle, maize weevil, sawtoothed grain beetle, drugstore beetle, etc., that contaminate foodstuffs, thereby making them unfit for consumption and/or causing certain adverse reactions in mammals, e.g., terrible discomfort. Beetles typically access stored food products in one of two ways. First, the beetles infest food that is processed and packaged, lay eggs and create the above-discussed and other problems. Second, beetles have been known to penetrate food packages after the stored food products have been processed by literally eating their way into the containers or cartons. As such, beetle infestation has proven to be a terrible nuisance.
Accordingly, there is a great need for novel pesticidal compositions, containing no pyrethrum, synthetic pyrethroids, chlorinated hydrocarbons, organo phosphates, carbamates and the like, that can be effectively used inside the containers or cartons for stored food products as both a contact and fumigant pesticide against beetles. In addition, there is a need for a method of treating the containers or cartons to kill and repel beetles, thereby preserving the stored food products contained therein.